April Joyner

English PEN is partnering with Sotheby’s to auction off first-edition copies of notable books annotated by their authors (or, in two cases, their illustrators). What a cool idea! I wish this could be in a museum somewhere.

(Source: ft.com)

My first awkward moment with Glass came when I walked into the bathroom.

Paging Emily Post! We need an etiquette update, fast.

Also, I hear lots of white guys are into this.

https://twitter.com/aprjoy/status/329342792474169346

Kerry Washington, in a New York Times profile

Is this another manifestation of sexism in tech?

(The community of Wikipedia editors and contributors skews heavily male, just as in tech at large.)

Here are a few posts that I’ve found insightful (and, yes, an entry from The Onion is among them):

Why are police scanners open to the public? at The Verge

It Wasn’t Sunil Tripathi: The Anatomy of a Misinformation Disaster at The Atlantic

How Reddit Became a Hub of the Crowdsourced Boston Marathon Bombing Investigation at Fast Company

Study: Majority Of Americans Not Informed Enough To Stereotype Chechens at The Onion

So I came across this company, Bohemian Guitars, that makes guitars from old oil cans. Apparently it’s inspired by the founders’ experience growing up in South Africa. Pretty cool stuff! I’d love to learn more about the South African music that inspired them.

jtotheizzoe:

I’m sort of thrown off today. it’s hard to be motivated to bring you science when there’s Reality going on.

When something hits us upside the head like the Boston Marathon explosions, we can feel dizzy, disoriented … left swirling in a dust-storm of rapidly beating hearts, furrowed brows, held breath and shaking heads. That’s how I feel, anyway. I’ve been sitting here, repeatedly muttering statements that begin with “What the f…” and simultaneously cheering and cursing the power of social media to communicate painful news. I keep looking through Twitter and blogs, knowing exactly what I’ll see and don’t want to. So powerful, but so unfiltered. 

It’s not the first time in the past year that this message from Fred Rogers has been appropriate, and that’s perhaps the ultimate tragedy. But he’s right. Every photo of violence and blood in the streets of Boston that we won’t unsee is full of people running in to help. And if we have to look, that’s what we should focus on.

My thoughts are with Boston. 

(via pbsdigitalstudios)

Awesome post on hip-hop and gender by loveisthicker. Here’s an excerpt that got me thinking:

When I sit with young Black and Latino men in halfway homes, prisons, and high schools, I listen to them. I once critiqued one of my students for finding Lil Wayne to be his favorite rapper. I said, “But he’s not a very positive role model. He disrespects many women…” To which this young Black man began to express the relationship that felt he and Lil Wayne shared: to struggle, to defy all odds the system set for him to fail, and to financially attain a wealth that put him in the position to be heard. Though he could hear my frustration, he did not directly identify with it. I had to reach further. His conditioning as a young man was far more affected by the failing of a system than that of a Hip Hop artist. The artist was merely, a coping mechanism, a dream and a vision. This does not take responsibility away from the portrayals of artists but it also demands context in our critiques of artists.

If I am ever to reach these young men, how do I first, see where they are coming from? What is their story and how do they get to be who they are? What is invested in our lack of education? Have they ever been loved, truly? What is love to us and how does it differ? How do we hold our brothers accountable without demonizing them? As women, how do we hold ourselves accountable in our critiques of men?

Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, speaking about the trend of lengthened pop tracks in the Los Angeles Times

Rembert Browne, on Brad Paisley and LL Cool J’s “Accidental Racist,” at Grantland